The Chosen Path
by BuffyManiac
Summary: The year is 2005. the after math of what's happened to the scoobie gang after the shutdown of sunnydale... When something comes along, trying to ressurect the First, Willow and Xander go begging for Spare change, as they'll need all the help they can get.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer- I do not own any right to the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I suggest that this is definetly, without a doubt, what happened to the scoobie gang after the fall of the hellmouth._

**Chosen Path**

**London, England - August 7, 2005 - The Summer's home**

"Dawn!" Buffy called from down stairs. "Cmon! School starts today... Your a senior! You can be free! ... soon enough."

"Im up!" Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs. For the past two years, her and Buffy and Buffy's child have lived in London, England. Ever since Buffy was told off by the new Council, that she wasn't needed. For the last evil that still existed after the battle between the Angel gang and Wolfram and Hart, Angel of course won. But it came at a price...

Buffy was sorting through the food, trying to find something that Dawn would eat without throwing a fit. This was August 7... it had been a whole month since Dawn had her last... um... monthly visitor and Dawn is usual very eartable around this time. So she didn't want to do anything to tempt Dawn into going into another spaz attack. Buffy grabbed a granola bar. Great, she'll think Buffy wants her to keep her girlish figure... or perhaps it would look like she would want Dawn to get one. Bad choice. She threw the bar over her head and it landed in the sink. Banana's, great. Banana's could implie anything good or bad. She just decided to make her some cereal instead. After that she headed for the stairs, to check on her baby when she ran into Dawn.

"Morning..." Buffy said. "I made you some breakfast. I figured you could eat."

"Right, cos God know's im as thin as any other anorexic bitch around here! Ugh!" Dawn ran to the kitchen and started eating and glaring at Buffy at the same time. Buffy chose to ignore that.

"Well... there's midol in the cupboard." She mummbled. Buffy finished walking up the steps to check on her preciouse baby boy, Kendal. It wasn't her name of choice, after all he is adopted. She didn't feel right it was to change his name. She looked in his crib. He was sound asleep, very unlike most babies. He was always quiet and hardley ever cryed. And his babysitter was amazing. She was very carrying and had a child of her own.

Buffy walked back down stairs to see Dawn popping a few midol. "School starts in ten. The babysitter should be here any second now. And I'll be off looking for another job today."

"Got fired again?"

"I didn't get fired... I quit. It was mean, you should have seen the way those guys would come in looking for those... tapes and... such."

"I told you it was bad to work at a rated X store."

"Well whatever. Whatever we need to pay the bills. This place isn't as cheap as you think."

"Is that why we've been able to live here for the past two years?"

"I hope your swallowing those right..." she said walking past Dawn and getting a water from the fridge. "You wouldn't wanna choke."

"We should get going if I'm going to be there early." Dawn said looking at her watch and back at Buffy.

"Well, the babysitter isn't here yet. What if something goes wrong, I can't just leave him here."

"Yes you can." Dawn said simply. As if like clock work, a knock at the door to reveal the babysitter.

"Okay, now we can leave. Grab your stuff."

"Lucy!" Buffy said welcoming her in. Lucy was about 19, nice black hair, about 5 feet tall. She was born and raised in London. She lived only twenty minutes away.

"Hi Buffy. First day, Dawn?"

Dawn just looked the other way. Buffy just shook it off. "Well, Kendal is upstairs asleep. If anything comes up, just call me-"

"I know the drill. I've been working for you for the past year-in-a half."

"Right, thanks." She said with a hug and she left out the door with Dawn.

"You could be a little nicer." Buffy said getting into the car.

"Whatever, it's the first day of my last year... I kind of miss fighting evil. At least then, I didn't get into trouble with the whole grade factor, cos of- you know... the fighting and stuff..."

Buffy just ignored her. She had her mind elsewhere. Apart of her actualy missed America. A bigger part of her wanted to be back in Sunnydale with Willow and Xander and Giles... God even Andrew. But nothing she has ever wanted more, was her mom. Joyce Summers. She was her rock for twenty years of her life, when she died of the cancer, Buffy didn't know how she would take it. She already didn't talk to her father, she felt like an orphan. A twenty-year old orphan. Apart of her still does. Only this time she's five years old. And five years smarter.

It had been over a year since she had bothered talking to Xander or Willow. Not since Giles funeral. Giles. He was killed two January's ago. There was a new elevator in the Council's building when the rope or cable or whatever it was holding the elevator snapped and everyone in the small, cluddered space died.

"Buffy..." Dawn said.

Willow cryed like a baby. Xander of course tryed to hold it in like a man, but when he got into his car to leave, he bawled like his whole family was just blown away. In a way it was... The entire scoobie gang was all Xander had after he left his parents house. Sure, there was the wedding thing with Anya, but if there was no wedding in the first place, Xander wouldn't have talked to his mother since then. And he hasen't.

"Buffy?" Dawn said, louder this time.

"Huh?" She said, disoriented.

"Great, the light's red now. When are you going to snap out of it?"

"Sorry..." Buffy said driving off, after the light turned green. She was right, when was she going to snap out of it? Too much surrounding her brain at that point. But the up side of things was that it was over. The evil that was there, well is there, isn't as strong. Willow and Xander and them can handle it on their own. Slayer's, as far as Buffy knew, were still being called. Just in the same way they were being called when Willow made her spell on the Scythe, forcing it to spread it's power to every potential in the world. Buffy didn't need to worry about it anymore. All she had to worry about was normal things now.

"So... last year. Gonna miss school?"

Dawn slowly turned her head to look at Buffy's. "You did not just ask that question."


	2. Bitter

_Disclaimer- I do not own any right to the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I suggest that this is definetly, without a doubt, what happened to the scoobie gang after the fall of the hellmouth._

**Chosen Path**

**Later - the same day...**

Buffy had just crawled out of a really bad interview. This was her third. The first went good, she could be a librarian. After all, she did miss all those times in the Sunnydale highschool library. Of course, then she wasn't really in there for business... nor pleasure. Oh well, they said they would definetly be calling her back. Well she had one more to go to. Flipping burgers at a McDonalds. Hm... after the whole run in with the Double Meat Palace, she really wasn't interested in their secret ingredient. Considering her and Dawn ate out there at least once every two weeks. She decided to all it a day, thinking she had the Librarian job in the bag. Buffy just got into her car and drove home.

- - -

**Hillcrest Academy (Dawn's school)**

It was about 10:00am and Dawn was almost finished with her second class. In about 45 minutes she would have a free period and she wanted to go home and catch some snoozage for about 90 minutes. She loved the blocked scheduling here in London. They had it in America too, but she loved London. Despite she didn't have many fans there. Meaning, she had a few enemies. She had friends, of course. There was a very nice girl named Gwen who was blonde, and Brian who was kind of a rebel, and then there was Logan. He was American, just like Dawn. So he understood what it was like to go to a foreign school and be made fun of just because your American.

Dawn felt as if she was about to fall asleep in front of her history teacher. I guess this is what she gets for failing it her junior year. Dawn could have stopped after her Sophomore year, but Buffy just wanted her to have that fabulous London education, all the way away from Willow and Xander. She also missed-

"Dawn, answer the question." Demanded the teacher, Mrs. Brinkston.

"The question?" Dawn asked puzzled.

She just rolled her eyes. "The source of the black plaque. Do you know? Or do you just not care?" She had one of those fake london accents. The kind you would want to throw against a brick wall.

Dawn just looked at her. She had her last year. She obviously wasn't pleased to see her again. "I think it was... apart of... trench warefare?"

"Wow, read that off of one of your old homework assingments?" She said in an obviouse bad mood. And gee, Buffy thinks Dawn is annoying around this time of the month. Imagine what her teacher is like.

- - -

**Watchers Council - Somewhere in Ohio (Remote area) - 5:00am (American Time)**

Willow had her head resting on a very large book on top of many other small ones. Her lamp was set to low mode, and the sun was going to be coming up soon. Xander walked in, after waking up 20 minutes before hand.

"Will..." He said shaking her a little.

"Wha... huh..." She looked up and around. "Xander... What time is it?"

"About 5... am. How late were you up?"

"... uh... Last I checked it was about 2:30am. School's going to start soon for the girls. I should get ready."

"Did you call her?" Xander asked as Willow got up.

Willow sighed, staring at him. "No. I couldn't." Xander just stared at her. "It's hard Xander," she began walking over to the double doors leading from her office to her bedroom. "You can't just call someone up after not seeing them for over a year and go, 'hey, haven't seen ya' in a while. Feel like battling some evil darkness that could destroy the world again?'. We know better Xander, we can't." She dug into her closet looking for appropriate atire for the girls day back. "Besides. We have a whole line of Slayer's now, that we're teaching here. **AND **Watchers. What's one more Slayer going to help."

"Hey, now! Stop that, dammit!" He said pointing at Willow. "We both know we need Buffy to get throught his. Without her--"

"Without her we'll get by. We can handle one lousy apocalypse." Willow said throwing her things into her bathroom.

"No we can't. Look, we both know how much evil Buffy has been through. How much she has had to handle."

"And she deserves a life now, Xander!" She shouted at him with a tear rolling down her left cheek. "We were right there with her, during those times, when we had to fight in Sunnydale for seven years. We can do this without her. Without her orders. She decided to leave the circle, Xander. Once you do something like that, there's no coming back. Unless she is to call us, Xander and say she wants back in, we don't go searching for help."

Xander just starred at Willow. _Now sin't the time to be sounding like a hero_, he thought.He doesn't like this. What was coming. What was already on it's way and they were just waiting for it to knock on their doors. He felt they needed Buffy, he felt safe with Buffy. Buffy can make it all go away, and some how she'll get them throught this. It started to rain, hard. The clouds were cloudy and fog was settling. "Now if you would excuse me, I have to take a shower. I'll see you in the teacher's lounge."

- - -

About an hour later, two other teachers from the school were sitting in there. One man, and a woman. The woman had short brown hair like Ms. Calendar had and she wore jeans and a t-shirt. Her name was Vada Coleman and she taught the Watcher's history and training. The man had short hair also, similar to Xander's. He wore a long sleeve white shirt with jeans. His name was Khriss Kilerjman and he taught the Slayer's knowledge and history. Unlike Ms. Coleman, Mr. Kiljerman was a Watcher.

"I suppose he finaly decided to tell you, huh?" Vada asked.

"Yeah... I have no idea what we'll do. I mean we have this army of the Slayers and Watcher to help I suppose..."

"I know, I know, It won't be enough. It never is, I mean look at what happened to the hellmouth in 2003. Maybe 5 Slayer's made it out alive. Do you think we'll need this Slayer they keep mentioning... what's her name..."

"Buffy Summers." He croaked. "It wouldn't kill anything. She has been the very most famouse Slayer for the last 9 years." Khriss said surprised.

"Why haven't I heared too much of her?"

"Haha!" The man laughed. "Well, she has resigned as the Slayer." he sipped his coffee.

"Resigned?"

"Yes, almost immediatley after this school was about to be built, she wanted nothing to do with it. I mean, she helped for about the first month, with plans and things of that sort, but when she heared there would be the arrival of Watcher's, she packed and took her sister with her. She wanted this school to be run for only the Slayer's only. She assumed us Watcher's only good was to drink tea and recall old demons of sorts. She felt they could do that on their own..."

"And so she just left?" Vada asked concerned.

"There was a falling out between Mr. Harris and Ms. Rosenburg and the Slayer. Two out of the three wanted Watcher's, and one did not. The one that did not left immeditaley, and they haven't spoken since... Or so I've heared."

"You eaves drop too much." She said getting up. "School is starting in twenty minutes. Are you coming?"

"I'll be there in a second." He replied stretching.

Just as Vada left, Xander walked in.

"Xan. the man." He said looking at Xander.

"Mr. Kilerjman. School is starting soon..." He said pouring himself some coffee. "I'm gonna guess, you'll be showing?"

He quirked a smile. "Yes. I Will." He got up and headed for the door. "Just one question first..."

"No." Xander said, before Khriss could even reply.

"No?" He asked turning around.

"No... she'll be a no-show."


	3. Working Conditions

_Disclaimer- I do not own any right to the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I suggest that this is definetly, without a doubt, what happened to the scoobie gang after the fall of the hellmouth._

**Chosen Path**

**9:00pm (London time) - Summer's Home - Later that night...**

"Yes. Yes..." Buffy said into the telephone. "Yes, thankyou. Tomorrow morning. Thanks, bye." Buffy hung up the phone, looking as if she was just given the greatest orgasm ever.

"Buffy... are you okay?" Dawn asked sitting down with her.

"Im fine... I got the job. I got the job, Dawn. I now work in a library!"

"Well, that's great!" Dawn said pleased.

"I know it won't exactley pay for all our essentials, but it's good for now. I can pay the bills and Lucy. And I'll be able to go shopping once a week now, instead of once every two weeks." Buffy said relieved laying back in the couch.

"Well this is good. I say we party." Dawn said, in a good request to let her go to Logan's house.

"Isn't it a school night? Besides, I'm kind of beat... oh that reminds me, how was school?" Dawn had stayed after at Gwen's house for a little while after and just ran into Buffy about 20 minutes ago, and even then Buffy was busy napping on the couch.

"It was okay... I got the same skanky, mean teacher for History as I had last year... But other than that-"

"Ugh, Mrs. Brinkston... I just can't wait for teacher conferences." Buffy said, just as annoyed of the thought of that fake british accent wanted Buffy to go Slayer on her ass. "... I guess if you've got your homework done and your not tired..." Dawn nodded her head. "... I suppose you can go over to one of your friends house. But I want you home by eleven."

"Thanks Buffy!" Dawn kissed her sister on the cheek and rushed out the door.

**9:45pm (American Time) - Brooklyn, Newyork**

A vivacious looking brunette stood on the corner of a street well known for its hookers. She had long brown curly hair, a lot of eye liner and lip gloss on and wore something that made Anna Nicole Smith look like a nun. She also had highheels on tall enough to play pro basketball. A man walked up beside her, trying to look as if he was minding his own business.

"So... uh... ya' know, how much?" He asked her quietly.

"How much ya' got?" She said chewing her pink bubblegum.

He just looked at her and winked. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a dark alley. This was were she held most of her business.

"Take off your pants." she said. "I wanna see the money, first."

He man showed her the money and then started to take off his pants. She noticed it said buster on his name tag. She flicked it with finger. "So, your Buster."

The man also noticed the woman's name written across her top. It said 5X5 in silver beeds from boob to boob on her skinny, short, black top. "... and your name..." he said confused.

The woman just laughed as she pulled out a gun and held it to his head. "How 'bout answering some questions for me, Buster. You think you could do that?"

Buster just started to shake. He eventualy was able to give her a small nod. "Good, good. Now I wanna know, have you been sellin' drugs, B?" The man didn't move. He was still in shock when from when she whipped out the gun. She looked at him and back at the gun, and then back at him. "I think you being Buster Wayne and all, you'de be used to one of these things. Seeing you are Buster Wayne, right?"

The man let out another small nod. "Yes... please, if your one of the dealers from Brooklyn, I'll get Joel the money. I- It's just going to take some time."

"Mr. Wayne... your under arrest. Please put your hands behind your back." The woman cuffed him and took off her wig revealing her long brown hair. She took out her walkie­-talkie and radio'd for a cop car.

"... Hey, Lehane here. Yeah, I need a car, I got Wayne here. We can bring him in for questioning on Joel." She pocketed the mini sized radio and looked back at Buster. "Okay, a cop car is gonna be here any second now. It's going to take both me and you to the station up town. There, you're going answer some more of my questions. Think you can do that?"

The man got so nervous he started to wet his pants. The woman looked down.

"I'll take that as a yes."

**Watchers Council - 10:00pm**

Vada was making her bed when Xander walked in. She looked up and saw him. He just stood there in silence. She expected him to say something.

"May I help you...?" She asked sarcasticley.

"Long day, huh?" He asked her coming around, sitting down next to her bed.

She sighed deeply. "Yeah, I guess. There's a lot to do. A lot to plan... Do you guys even know how your going to beat this thing?"

Xander was about to open his mouth when Willow walked in. "Hey, we're gonna try and pull another all nighter tonight. Meet in the Media Center. Vada, bring your books and things. Xander... just bring yourself. We've gotta try and find something new. I just got a new shipment of books. Hopefully there's something in there."

"We'll be there in a few." Vada replied.

Willow walked off. Xander got up and looked at Vada. "I guess that answers your question, in a way." They just looked at eachother, again, in silence. Vada had a thing for him when she first started working here. But that was when he was still getting over his old girlfriend's death, Anya. Apparantly she was a very outspoken woman. She had been evil for a very long time, but turned. Just for him. Ever since then, she had been trying to find something else just as romantic to do so he'll fall in love with her just as he did with Anya. Nothing worked ... Until about a month ago, they had a fling. And every since then they've been secretly seeing eachother. She knew she loved him. But she wasn't sure that he loved her. Ever since Anya died it just seemed to her that his heart was not gone, but just... misplaced perhaps.

Maybe thing's would be differen't if Giles haden't died. If Buffy didn't leave. She wanted to leaned in and kissed him so bad. She never wanted to let go. Never ever have to say goodbye, the way Xander had to make peace with Anya. Her death, he didn't even get to say goodbye. It all made her think of this song called What You Have To Do by Sarah Mclachlan. She didn't know how to let go. So she decided that she never would.

"I'll see you downstairs." She said, breaking free of their passionate kiss. He smiled.

- - -

Xander walked into the Media Center looking for Willow. The place was filled with book of the supernatural and potions. There were about five computers total. All of them worked medioacre. They didn't use them too much for research anymore. There were two small table and one large square table that is supposed to be used for dining, but it was big enough to put books and laptops and things like that on it. It was cluddered right now with potions and books on the First. The florescent lighting was okay. It wasn't anything special and it didn't have any windows. Just incase some thing were to break in. Only vampires were the only creatures that couldn't come in without an invitation. Even though this would be considered a public place, it was a private school. And only the people that live here are allowed to enter. _Loop hole._

"Willow!"

"Over here!" She said in the back room behind the library desk.

"We need to talk. About this Buffy thing."

"Xander-" Willow started.

"No. Your right. We can't bring her into this. I just thought id let you know that I can't disagree with you any longer. You've been right all along Will about everything we've done with this place. Why should now change?"

"Wow..." She said looking into his eyes.

"Wow? Okay not really the responce I was looking for..."

"I mean wow as in, I was thinking about calling her. It seems we can at least give her a heads up and see if she would like to help, but if not that's okay. Xander, _you_ were right. It won't kill anything."

"Except maybe us." He said smiling. Willow just looked at him, taking what he said in not the funny sense. "Okay... bad time to try that joke out."


End file.
